Sefko: Dirk Nowitzki finding his form means little, Dallas Mavericks are too far out of the playoff picture

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Dirk Nowitzki has won a championship and his career will land him in the hall of fame, no matter what. So it’s not like next season is going to be wasted, anymore than his first 12 years before a championship were wasted. But can the Mavs rebuild around him in time to give him another shot at a title?

He takes responsibility for missing the first 27 games of the season because of knee surgery. And he’ll fault himself for
missing clutch free throws in recent losses.

Never mind that he’s back to playing at a star’s level over the last month. Lately, he’s been the same, old tough Nowitzki. In the
last five games, he’s averaged 21.6 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Sadly, for the Mavericks, it doesn’t matter if Nowitzki
finds his legs of three years ago. He could be a monster the rest of the way and
the Mavericks are so far out of the playoff picture, there’s a real chance it
won’t make a difference.

“It always comes back to if I’d have been in this shape all season long, I
think we’re probably right there [battling for the eighth spot] or even in the
playoffs,” Nowitzki said. “But I wasn’t. Obviously, that didn’t help.

“Now we’re in this situation. We got to make the best of it; keep
battling.”

As Elton Brand said, “Our backs are against the wall.”

The pressure to win is more urgent than ever. And even though the Mavericks
have consecutive games against eighth-place Houston starting Sunday, sweeping
those games won’t matter because the Rockets have plenty of cushion right
now.

“We have a good enough team to be in the playoffs, I think,” said Chris
Kaman. “Top three or four team? I don’t think that’s us right now. But if we
come together and really get this thing going and everybody’s on the same page
defensively — that’s the biggest thing — I don’t think we have too much trouble
scoring. I think our trouble comes from stopping teams sometimes.

“But we’re right there. I think it’s going to be close. But I think we have
the potential to be there. We got some ground to cover.”

The Mavericks have gone 12-7 since hitting rock bottom at 13-23. They need
another run like that just to get to .500. And that’s not going to be good
enough to crack the top eight.

Since they were 10 games below .500, their record is fifth-best in the
Western Conference. Granted, they will have played 13 of those 19 games at home
after Tuesday’s meeting with Milwaukee.

Then, it’s on the road for seven of eight, meaning it’s going to be hard to
keep up their pace since Jan. 10.

Nowitzki summed up the feeling pretty well with four words after the loss to the Lakers.

“Just not good enough,” he said.

School’s in session: Rookie Jae Crowder found himself
guarding Kobe Bryant a couple of times in the fourth quarter Sunday and it did
not go well for him.

He’s not the first rookie — or veteran — to get schooled by Bryant. But that
doesn’t make it any easier to take.

“No doubt,” Crowder said. “I’m a rookie. I’m guarding the best player in
basketball. I’ll do it the next time, too.”

Vince Carter has been through plenty of situations like that, and he said
Crowder will benefit from the lessons.

“You’re playing against a tough player,” Carter said. “Against anybody else,
maybe it’s great defense. You have to hope he’s not in a rhythm and take him out
of his sweet spots. And he has a lot of them on the floor. It’s some experience
under his belt that he can use down the line against somebody else.”

Offense vs. defense: Chris Kaman is going to have to be
worked back into the rotation after returning from 10 games out with a
concussion. As he said after Sunday’s game, he’s not certain what to expect. But
he’s willing to adjust.

“I’m just trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing,” Kaman said.
“Sometimes, I think: just play defense. And sometimes if I’m playing good
defense, I get taken out because my offense isn’t going that well. You got to
try to balance the two.

“I think the Mavericks are used to having players who are more a defensive
style [at center]. It’s kind of new to have a guy like myself or Elton [Brand]
who can play a little more offense than guys they’ve had in the past. So I just
do my job when I’m called upon. That’s all I can do. I can’t force him [coach
Rick Carlisle] to put me in the game.”